Livelihoods
Interventions
Module 16
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Learning objectives
• Be familiar with the different options of
livelihood interventions
• Understand their main objectives
• Be aware of advantages, disadvantages and
criteria for implementation of livelihood
interventions
• Understand the various contexts for
livelihood interventions
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Understanding livelihoods is critical to
understanding nutrition in emergencies
as it is through livelihoods that people
obtain food and income security.
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Livelihoods and emergency programming
• In emergencies, livelihood support programmes
include any intervention that protects people’s
capabilities and assets, and supports livelihood
activities
• These programmes can be undertaken to prevent or
mitigate* the impact of a crisis or in response to a
crisis
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Would these fishermen benefit more
from food aid or support to repair their
boat?
Impact of a tsunami
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Would these farmers benefit more from
food assistance or logistic support to get
their produce to markets?
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Undernutrition
Immediate
causes
Underlying
causes
Basic causes
Inadequate food
Disease
intake
Household
food
insecurity
Poor social
and care
practices
Poor
Public
Health
Formal and informal infrastructure/
political ideology/resources
Source: UNICEF conceptual framework
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Planning and Designing Interventions that
Support Livelihoods in emergencies
Interventions to support livelihoods can have
3 objectives:
– Livelihood Provision, the supply of basic
immediate needs
– Livelihood Protection, preventing the sale of
assets or the recovery of lost assets
– Livelihood Promotion, strengthening
institutions, skills and advocating for policy
change that supports livelihoods
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Interventions can be divided into 4 main groups:
– (Food assistance (GFD))
– Income and employment (Food for work, Cash for
work, Cash grants, micro-finance, income
generating activities)
– Production support (crop production support,
livestock support, fishing support)
– Market support (commodity vouchers, cash
vouchers, monetization and subsidized sales,
market infrastructure and access, de-stocking)
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Hand-out
Overview of different
livelihood support
interventions in
emergencies and
criteria/condition for
decision-making on
interventions to
address food crises
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Interventions can be divided into 4 main groups:
– (Food assistance (GFD))
– Income and employment (Food for work, Cash for
work, Cash grants, micro-finance, income
generating activities)
– Production support (crop production support,
livestock support, fishing support)
– Market support (commodity vouchers, cash
vouchers, monetization and subsidized sales,
market infrastructure and access, de-stocking)
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Implementing interventions to support Livelihoods:
Food assistance interventions
• Food assistance is organized to:
– Maintain or improve nutritional status, hence enabling a
healthy active life
– Reduce the need for people to sell off assets to obtain
food
– Release income that would otherwise have been spent
on food
– Enable the payment of credit or debt i.e. supports
important coping strategies
• Some risks are to be considered, such as the impact
on market, people dependency, competition with
other aid interventions, etc.
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Implementing Interventions to support Livelihoods:
Income & Employment
• Cash approaches are increasingly being used
- when sufficient food (or other goods) is available and
accessible on markets
- when no risk of increasing inflation exists; and
- when conditions are respected for safe and effective cash
transfer.
• Types of interventions are cash
grants, cash vouchers, cash for work.
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Implementing Interventions to support Livelihoods:
Market support
• The aim of market support programmes in emergencies is
generally to ensure that people’s access to basic goods is
maintained.
• Market support interventions can take many forms:
– cash and voucher programmes
– programmes that support market infrastructure, the
maintenance of food prices in markets (e.g. through the
provision of subsidized foods) and the producers’ access to
markets locally, nationally and internationally.
• Such programmes require adequate market analysis.
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Implementing Interventions to support Livelihoods:
Production support
• It can take many forms such as support of livestock,
crop production and fishing interventions
• The main types of interventions are:
–
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Seeds and Tools
Seeds fair
Livestock programmes
Livestock marketing support
De-stocking
Fodder distribution
Veterinary and animal health support
Re-stocking
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How would you monitor and evaluate
Livelihoods Interventions?
And….. Is it different from other interventions?
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How to decide which intervention is appropriate?
Selection based on the need, the context, the advantages and
disadvantages of each intervention. Example:
Type of
intervention
Criteria/condition
Seeds and tools
•Food insecurity due to
reduction or loss in crop
production
•Affected households lacking
seeds and tools
•Lack of seeds/tools limits
production
•Local knowledge available
on the use
•Sufficient food accessible
(otherwise seeds might be
eaten)
Common
emergency
context
Recovery stage or
protracted
emergencies
(Note: but
planning needs to
start during
emergency!!!!)
Advantages
Disadvantages
•Re-establishes
crop production
•Strengthens
agricultural
systems in longer
term
•Increases selfsufficiency
•Requires knowledge
of local seeds and
agriculture.
•Imported seeds may
not be used.
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Monitoring and evaluation of livelihoods interventions
Key questions for
monitoring process (how
was the transfer
delivered?)
Key questions for
monitoring impact (what
change has there been for
the recipient?)
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Did the intended recipients receive the seeds?
Did the recipients receive the correct amounts of seeds
Was the distribution done on time?
Were the recipients and other stakeholders satisfied with
the process and method of implementation?
What other assistance are recipients receiving?
Types of recipient?
What was the average yield of the seed distributed?
How have sources of food and income changed?
How have coping strategies changed?
How much has income and expenditure changed since
the seed distribution programme?
Have there been any changes in consumption patterns?
Would recipients have preferred another form of
assistance?
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Are all livelihood interventions
appropriate for each context?
For example:
- in relief?
- in pro-tracted crisis?
- as part of disaster preparedness?
- in rehabilitation/early recovery
phase?
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Issues and challenges for livelihoods programming in emergencies (1)
Examples of different interventions dependent on the context
(disaster management cycle)
Relief
Asset/income
transfers or
expenditure
reduction;
Income
Food aid;
generation Cash grants;
vouchers;
and
Cash-for-work;
markets
Food-for-work;
Seed
distribution
Rehabilitation Development
Vouchers and
fairs;
Cash-for-work;
Food-for-work;
Asset recovery
(seeds and tools,
livestock,
equipment);
Microfinance
Microfinance;
Training in business
management;
Organizing small-scale
producers;
Lobbying for a more
supportive market
environment;
Social welfare
programmes;
Diversification
opportunities
Mitigation/pre
paredness
Contingency
stocks;
Linking social
welfare to
emergency
response;
Insurance to, e.g.,
cereal/fodder
banks;
Early warning
systems
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Issues and challenges for livelihoods programming in emergencies (2)
• Working in conflict makes it very necessary for
livelihood interventions to be linked with
protection ones.
• Mainstreaming HIV and AIDS in livelihood
interventions because of the deep prolonged
impact of the disease on livelihoods.
• Can livelihood interventions improve
nutrition?
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Can livelihood interventions improve nutrition?
• Improvement of nutritional status cannot necessarily be attributed to the
livelihood intervention.
• Because there is a complex pathway between that intervention and
nutritional status (with many factors that can change the nutritional status)
• But……at best there might be a plausible causal association, e.g. it might be
possible that a livelihood intervention leads to increased income leading to
improved consumption patterns.
• As long indicators on each level are not measured, it will be difficult to
defend this ‘causal’ relationship.
• BUT…..livelihood interventions do not need to have nutritional objectives to
be still useful and supportive to families/communities in emergencies.
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Many opportunities, often not used
Your experiences?
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Key messages
• Understanding livelihoods is critical to understanding how an
emergency will affect nutrition.
• Organisations are increasingly programming to support
livelihoods during emergencies.
• A wide variety of interventions can be implemented in support
of livelihoods during emergencies including:
– Food aid (general food distribution, food for work)
– Income and employment (cash distribution, cash for work, microfinance)
– Market support (vouchers, monetization and de-stocking)
– Production support (agricultural, livestock and fishing)
• The choice of the most appropriate livelihood intervention
depends on the pros and cons, the context (relief,
rehabilitation, development. mitigation/preparedness),
preferences of the communities, etc.
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